South Coast plane crash pilot identified as skydiving legend Paul ‘Poo’ Smith

A man who died in a plane crash has been identified as a beloved member of the skydiving community, 54-year-old pilot, former skydiving company owner and chief instructor Paul “Poo” Smith.

Smith died on Saturday after the light plane he was flying crashed near Moruya Airport on NSW’s South Coast, shortly after 2pm.

Emergency services were called to bushland west of George Bass Drive, Moruya, about 305 kilometres south of Sydney, following reports of a small plane crash.

According to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), the aircraft was returning to Moruya Airport after conducting a skydiving drop when it crashed. The pilot, the sole occupant on board, was fatally injured and died at the scene. Witnesses identified him and police said the family had been notified.

The ATSB is travelling to the crash site to investigate. It has asked anyone with video footage of the aircraft at any phase of the flight, or in the immediate aftermath of the accident, to make contact.

Smith, a Moruya resident, was a highly qualified pilot and prominent member of the Australian skydiving community who had been skydiving for almost 40 years and at one point owned a successful skydiving company.

He worked for Parachutes Australia in the late 1980s, and was a test jumper for the company in the early 1990s, trialling parachutes. He also had extensive flying experience and had more than 10,000 hours logged as a pilot in command, mostly flying skydivers.

Smith recently received the Australian Parachute Federation’s highest award – the master of sport parachuting – for his contribution and achievements in the sport. A recent social media post by the organisation praised him for his “impressive and inspirational career”.

Witness Dean Cameron was on a fishing trip near the site of the crash when he heard a plane engine “roar” that sounded “really, really close” and first thought it was a plane doing aerobatics.

“I thought it was weird, it sounded like it was above us ... [The noise it made] was like a plane coming out of a dive,” Cameron said.

“It was really loud, it was roaring,” he said.

When he later saw news reports about the incident, he realised what had happened, describing the realisation as an “eerie” feeling.

“We definitely heard the plane going down,” he said.

A crime scene has been established and will be examined by specialist officers.

It is the second plane crash to occur in the South Coast region in recent weeks, after a light plane went down over Budawang National Park on September 18, killing a man in his 60s.

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